


Going the Distance

by hooliginas



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anxiety, Canon Compliant, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Falling In Love, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Swearing, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-23 23:06:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13200495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hooliginas/pseuds/hooliginas
Summary: A medical researcher struggling to accept the loss of her brother attempts to escape it all by moving to Pelican Town, and starting over, at the request of her grandfather's last letter.





	1. A Whiskey Rebuttal

_I cannot believe I’m actually going to do this,_ Angel’s rational thought process chimes in as she watches the numbers indicating the elevator’s ascent, each floor accompanied with a soft bell. She watches her hands as they tremble, clutching the all-important, faded and yellowed letter in her slightly damp palms. _No,_ she thinks, pulling the letter slightly closer to her chest, _I have to do this. I can’t live like this anymore… and he would have wanted you to be happy._ Sighing softly, she exits the elevator as swiftly as possible, steps surer than before.

A secretary, face perfectly blank, lets her in to the head corporate office for her division, followed by a cup of the sludge they call coffee in this building. The view would have been breathtaking, if not overlooking the polluted and grey city. The office has nothing to indicate who works there, no personal effects of any kind. They were ‘discouraged’ here at Joja MedTM, and the same went for her (much smaller) office.

Two men are in the room, one seated at the desk, and one in the lone chair in front of it. Neither move to indicate her arrival, or to do anything to look less like pre-programmed corporate robots. Angel almost feels badly for them.

Any thoughts of pity are automatically discarded the moment the man at the desk opens his mouth.

“Miss… Angel.” He said, voice oozing with disdain. _Neat, they conveniently forget my name, too._

“Mr. Logan.” She replies, looking him in the eye cooly. “I assume you called me up here for a reason?”

He chuckles, faintly, and the man in the chair, the ‘Task Flow Manager’ for her division, cracks a crooked smile. “You would be right. I decided that due to the… absences frequent in your department this quarter reported to me by Jon here,” Logan says, with a nod in Jon’s direction, “that the best course of action to meet the productivity quotas here at Joja MedTM is to call for you and some members of your team to… supplement your schedules with hours outside of your regular times.”

He pauses for a moment, sharing a smile with the sleazeball in front of him, as if the two of them are just the _slickest pieces of shit_ in this building.

“I do hope you’ll understand that this means that all of you will need to accept how that will affect your pay, as it is policy here.” His shark-like grin widens.

Indignation suddenly fills her, and she finds herself trembling slightly at the force of it, voice low and clear.

“You know what? _Fuck you._ I took this job thinking you would help me research, to help kids like my brother, and you know what I got? Shitty coffee and stupid corporate glass ceilings, a massive pay cut, and this insufferable bastard standing in front of me telling me I need to work more hours without proper compensation when my baby brother just fucking died. Go to hell, and I hope you both step on all the fucking Legos™ the whole damn way down. I quit, asswipe.”

Their shocked faces are absolutely worth the lack of a filter. Angel turns on her heel, hands her untasted sludge back to the now-interested secretary, and calmly retraces her steps directly out of the building.

 

 

&&

 

 The bus was uncomfortable, but Angel already considered this decision the best she’s made since attending medical school several years ago. The scenery is captivating, the sky the same blue she always saw in her brother’s eyes, endless and kind. Birds fly above her, colorful and healthier than any she has seen in a long time.

 _“If you're reading this, you must be in dire need of a change. The same thing happened to me, long ago. I'd lost sight of what mattered most in life... real connections with other people and nature. So I dropped everything and moved to the place I truly belong.”_ The words of her grandfather’s letter seem to be permanently etched in her brain. It had been years since he passed, and she missed him dearly. He had been the only family member besides her brother to truly seem to understand her, and he had taken them out to Pelican Town in the Valley many years prior, when she was so young she can only recall faint memories of the town and his cabin.

She can only hope that she honors their memories, and finds herself again out here.

 

&&

 

Lewis greets her once she gets to the cabin, face slightly more time-worn than her fuzzy memories, but still recognizable. He wraps her into a hug, smiling warmly.

"Welcome home, Angel. Or should I call you Dr…?” Lewis glances at her, wary of her unknown temperament as an adult.

Glancing around her, taking in the work cut out for her, she replies. “Oh, Angel is fine. No need for formalities, and I hear you have quite the capable doctor out here. I was always more of a researcher anyways.”

Nodding, Lewis hands her the key to the house, explaining a bit of the town dynamic before turning to leave. “Most of town generally goes to the Stardrop Saloon in the evenings, and all of them would love to meet you, should you would want to come.” Angel watches as he walks unhurried back towards town.    

“I’ll be there!” She calls back, actually a bit nervous to meet the other inhabitants of the town she’s resettled in. There is a lot to be done before evening fell, however, so there was plenty of work to soothe her nerves.

Grabbing her tools and parsnip seeds, she sets about clearing a decently sized patch of land around her cabin and getting those seeds planted and watered. After that was done, she sorts everything she’s collected into her single chest (she notes she’ll need more, as she feels foraging will become part of her routine) and heads inside the cabin.

The space is small, but more than large enough for her. Washing herself up quietly, Angel’s mind wanders to what she should wear to the Stardrop tonight. _Obviously, these work jeans are in desperate need of a washing, so they’re staying here…_ Angel muses absently as she pokes through her paltry collection of things, pulling out a fresh pair of jeans and a purple, green, and cream plaid button-down.

Once she’s changed, she looks in the mirror to evaluate herself. After re-pinning the side of her curly pixie cut that consistently refused to cooperate, she considered herself presentable enough to meet some of the other residents. Absently shoving her wallet and phone in her pockets, she grabs a light jacket (the weather had just switched to spring, but she wanted to be prepared) and locks up behind her as she begins the walk to town.

 

&&

 

Angel finds the Stardrop Saloon to be lovely, and all of the people she has spoken to inside seem to be curious about her, yes, but also kind. With Pelican Town being as small as it is, she assumes most of them know why she moved out here. She does appreciate that no one directly asks her, however.

Sitting at the counter near Gus, Angel takes a sip of her whiskey and relaxes a bit, letting the alcohol warm her with every sip. Emily leans over the counter and begins chatting about the healing properties of rocks, something Angel had always had great interest in since she was younger. More specifically, the rocks themselves, but Emily didn’t need to know that.

In the middle of their conversation about amber and its medicinal uses throughout history, the door to the Saloon opens, letting the crisp night air in. Angel isn’t sure if it’s the warmth of the alcohol compared to the cold air or not, but something about the man that enters makes her shiver. He immediately walks over to the space between the fireplace and the bar, Emily excusing herself to go get him a beer. The other patrons watch the newcomer, as if they had been left on a cliffhanger on how he would receive the town’s newest addition.

The man takes a large sip from his beer and then turns to face Angel. She is quiet, not quite looking at him, not sure if she should acknowledge him or not. After a moment, she decides taking the same friendly tack she took with the rest of the residents would be a good idea.

“Hello, I’m Angel. It’s nice to meet you!” She says, putting a genuine smile on her face. _He’s not too bad looking…_ She thinks, giving him a quick once-over. _I’d like to get him a new jacket though, or even patch the holes in this one._

“Do I know you?” He asks, his voice deeper, gruffer, than she’d been expecting.

“Not ye-”

“Don’t talk to me.”

More than a little stunned at the immediate rebuttal, Angel turned back to her drink. Within a few moments, and after a few words to Gus about supplying some fresh produce when she gets back on her feet, she puts her coat back on and retreats back to her home, feeling the man’s eyes on her when she leaves.

 _Well… I can’t win them all, I guess…_  She thinks, ignoring the way his words felt like a kick to the gut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This is my first Stardew fic and first fic in general, and I would love to hear your opinions. Also, I plan to update this again tomorrow, and then start a regular schedule of updating approximately every two weeks on Fridays.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at the same username (hooliginas) if you prefer to use that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just a forewarning here I am drunk (family party) and I shamelessly used the 2-heart dialogue... because it involved alcohol. This chapter is also depressingly short and I am very sorry about that but I really should sleep this off. I will look over this in the morning and catch the inevitable errors drunk me made, but I hope you enjoy the chapter all the same.

Weeks fly by as Angel adjusts to life in Pelican Town, finding the evolution in her routine refreshing and distracting. Giving gifts from her farm to the townspeople has made her feel a bit more like she belongs. She even has learned the name of the rude man from the Stardrop Saloon on her first night, Shane, and has purchased him alcohol a couple of times. He never quite has thanked her, but the morphing of vaguely-angry looks to curious stares as she puts away alcohol is enough for her.

There were a few days, early on, when she would get so caught up exploring the forest or trying to successfully catch a fish she would nearly pass out from exhaustion. Tonight was one of those nights, and she was trudging back from a foraging mission to the south of Marnie’s ranch.

The rain is just enough to make the ground muddy as all hell, her boots making disgusting squelching noises as she evaluates how long it will take her to reach home at this point. Despite being excessively glad she had made the decision to put on her rain gear today, the downpour from above still chills her to the bone, reminding her suddenly of the dreary life she had lived in the city. While hiking her bag up further on her shoulder, she notices that there is a light emanating from the end of the dock near Leah’s cabin. Curious, she decides to see who it is before she returns home for the night, rain or time of night be damned.

As she steps onto the creaky dock, the figure perched on the end of it turns around.  _ Shane, _ she thinks,  _ what are you doing out here this late? _

He gives her a slight grin as she realizes she spoke aloud. “Up late, huh?” he says, taking a large swig of his (admittedly cheap, as she catches a glance of the label) beer. Unsure if she should sit or stand, she wavers until he unceremoniously shoves a beer in her face with a nonchalant “Here, have a cold one”.

Taking the beer from his hand, Angel holds onto it delicately and sits down on the other side of the dock from him.

“Buh… life.” Shane looks up as he speaks, the rain having toned down to a light drizzle. “You ever feel like… no matter what you do, you’re gonna fail?” He spoke so softly, so hesitantly, she barely even heard him.  _ Is he completely gone? How much of this pack of beer has he drank tonight? _   She thinks, worried about the way his eyes are glazed over.

“... Like you’re stuck in some miserable abyss and you’re so deep you can’t even see the light of day?” He continues, oblivious to her thoughts.  _ Holy shit,  _ she realizes,  _ he’s describing his depression, isn’t he? No wonder he came across so fucking prickly. _

“I just feel like no matter how hard I try…  I’m not strong enough to climb out of that hole.” He finishes, sighing deeply as he takes another gulp of beer. She watches as he stares off into the distance, obviously lost in thought. Feeling more than a little awkward and unsure of what is an acceptable response to his (drunken) thoughts, she chugs her beer, mentally picturing her college days when she first… acquired that skill. 

Shane chuckles at that. “Heh… fast drinker, huh? Woman after my own heart.” Angel’s face flushes slightly at that, but she blames it on the alcohol. “Just don’t make it a habit… you got a future ahead of you still, bein’ a fancy doctor and all.” 

She makes a slightly confused face, and he does that half-smile at her again. A few moments pass by in comfortable silence before he finally moves to sit up with a light groan as his knees stretch back out. “Welp… My liver’s beggin’ me to stop. Better call it a night.” 

Angel also gets up, double-checking that nothing escaped her bag before she slings it on her back. As they part ways, him towards Marnie’s ranch and her towards her farm, she coughs to get his attention. 

“Shane…” she says, hesitant to comment but emboldened by the alcohol warming her system, “I know you’re strong enough to climb out of that hole someday. Just… keep in mind it doesn’t happen overnight.” She smiles at him softly before turning away and returning home.

“See you around, Angel.” Shane replies.

 


End file.
